Week of 12/1 Newsletter

Hello 4th and 5th Grade Families,

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks before Winter Break. Please check out our class calendar for upcoming events. With rain in the forecast for most of the week, please send your child to school with appropriate footwear and rain gear (jackets/umbrellas). At drop-off in the morning, if it is raining, please send your child to the PAC Room. There will be a yard duty there who will dismiss kids to classrooms when school starts. 

Homework
I've also updated the Homework Links tab. There you will find a list of nightly homework assignments and the vocabulary for this week. I encourage your child to practice the terms using the quizlet website.

ELA/Social Sciences
We finished our first 5 paragraph essay last week and I'm very impressed with the outcome! We will continue to improve the content and sentence variety with adult help and more essays! This week we will begin to learn about the early European settlements in North America. We will also be studying Text Features and practicing with homonyms and homophones.

Math

• We will continue working on multi-step word problems, and I really encourage the students to follow the steps outlined in last weeks post. It will guarantee a deeper understanding of the challenging questions.
• 4th Grade will be learning how multiply double digit numbers. We will explore a variety of ways to solve these problems, with the "most efficient" way following the steps as outlined on this poster.
• 5th Grade will be learning how to divide with double digit divisors. We will follow the traditional steps for long division, but focus on estimating an answer to help with the "guess & check" strategies. 

Thank you for your continued support at home and in class! If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at rhonig@montainesd.org.

Warmly,
Mrs. Honig

Week of 11/24 Newsletter

Hello Families,
I hope you are all well! Please remember that there is no school Wednesday-Friday this week for Thanksgiving.

This week we are working on solving word problems (and they are CHALLENGING)! Please see below the steps that I'd like your child to follow when working on the problems.

Please mark your calendars for the following dates:

Homework Club: Thursday, December 4th & December 11 from 2:50-3:30PM
Holiday Night: Wednesday, December 10 at 6:00PM
Banana Slug String Quartet, December 16 at 11:15AM
Holiday Sing, December 18 at 11AM

Wishing you all a very happy holiday!

Warmly,
Mrs. Honig

Week of 11/17 Newsletter

Hello Families,

Wow! I am so proud of the fabulous work your children put in to create such amazing visual presentations for their Native American Tribe projects! Check out the photos below of the dioramas and drawings. For those who created Minecraft villages - what an awesome way to use technology to show what you've learned! Well done! I will be sending home your child's report later this week, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Conferences will continue this week so please remember that students will be dismissed at 12:35 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and 2:50 dismissal on Thursday and Friday. If you haven't signed up for a conference, please contact me IMMEDIATELY. I'm looking forward to meeting with you if we haven't already and thanks to those I've met with so far. It is such a wonderful time to share your child's strengths and academic progress.

What we're learning:
Math: Multi- Digit Multiplication and Long Division (I'll be sending home a copy of the notes for your reference)
ELA: Elements of an Informative Essay
Social Sciences: Early European Explorers and the Columbian Exchange
4th Grade Science: Food Webs and Food Chains in the Monterey Bay
5th Grade Science: Mixtures and Solutions

Please mark your calendars:
Thursday, November 20: Homework Club from 2:50-3:30 - all students are welcomed
Wednesday-Friday, November 26-28: No School for the Thanksgiving Holiday

Enjoy the photos below and thank you again for all of your support both at home and in class! If you have any questions or comments, please email me at rhonig@mountainesd.org.

Best,
Mrs. Honig

KWL Explorers

Click below to add to our KWL Board:

CLICK HERE

Directions for the Native American Report Visual Presentation

Here are the directions for the Visual Presentation for the Native American Report

Recreate a game and teach it to the class, or create a diorama 

(here's an example)

or make a poster 

showing at least 5 examples from your report (food, clothing, shelter, ceremonies, environment, etc.). 

You may create a Minecraft village accurately showing examples of the environment, methods of survival & shelter.

It is up to the student to decide what to do 

but it must be turned in on Wednesday, 11/13/14.

Here's an example of a Mission Project I saw that inspired me to allow Minecraft to be an option.

Week of 11/3 Newsletter

Dear 4th and 5th Grade Families,

Wow! What a week last week! The kids did AMAZING job on their play and thank you again to all of the parents who helped with the whole process. We could not have done it without you (and Micha!). And Halloween was so much fun! Thanks for the wonderful lunch, treats and crafts! We really enjoyed ourselves - in spite of the weather.

Now that we are back to our regular schedule, we will begin planning for fall conferences. Please visit this link to sign up for your 20-25 minute meeting. I would like the students to attend as well, so please choose a time that works for all of you. I will confirm your times by this Friday, so please take a look at your calendar as soon as possible and sign up for a time.

Social Sciences/Writing:
Students are just about finished with their Native American Tribe Reports and will be expected to create an additional visual item for their presentations (scheduled for next week). The instructions will go home with them on Monday, 11/3, so please take a look to plan ahead. The projects will be due on Wednesday, 11/12.

Math
4th Graders will be learning about the 4 operations of whole numbers, using numbers into the thousands to add and subtract and reviewing multiplication and division in preparation for using larger numbers.

5th Graders will apply what they learned about exponents and order of operations to solve complex expressions using parentheses.

Science
4th Graders will continue to learn about Food Webs and Food Chains and the various elements that make up an ecosystem.

5th Graders will also continue learning about mixtures and solutions.


We appreciate your support both in the classroom and at home! Please feel free to contact me via email at rhonig@mountainesd.org if you have any questions or concerns. Again, I look forward to meeting with you during the conference to discuss your child's academic progress!

Best,

Mrs. Honig